Back to the Future

Lately I’ve been invoking the magic of Skype as I prep my guests for The Post Reality Show: Talk MEDIA!. Well, one of my guests, whose name I won’t mention, didn’t understand my amused comment that Skyping is “just like the Jetsons.” The Jetsons? One of those boomer moments, struggling to communicate with a gen-exer.

There is no doubt we are living in a future that was once science fiction and corny Saturday morning cartoons. Now we take it for granted, in fact, most people I know have let Skype fall into the technological dustbin, when in fact, it is probably the most powerful communications medium going. How else can you reach some old friend living on the other side of the planet (or even the other side of town) and have a conversation that is almost like being there. It’s uncanny, and it’s a total collapse of geography and distance.

Yes, and like the Jetsons, who lived in a futuristic utopia circa 2062, with their elaborate robotic contraptions, aliens, holograms, and whimsical inventions, we constantly complain of overwork despite our digital labor saving devices. If only, like George Jetson, we could zoom off in an aerocar to escape the congestion of our 24/7 mediated existence.